A Fancified Indian Sandwich at Pippali in Murray Hill

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When we last saw chef Peter Beck, he was developing the menu at Benares near Times Square, where the casual restaurant hits upscale notes with a mixed seafood stew and some refined takes on chaat. He's now at Pippali, a Murray Hill Indian spot that runs in a similar vein. That includes a particularly fancy version of a Maharashtrian street snack, a sandwich best shared as a starter.

The Dabeli ($7) is two thin, toasted open-faced buns topped with a mess of crusty cumin- and coriander-spiced potatoes, a bold tamarind chutney, red onion, yogurt, crunchy fried sev noodles, and some coriander for good measure. You can find the slider-like sandwiches elsewhere in the neighborhood, but here it's more of a composed dish. The textures hit in even layers: toasty bread and home fried potatoes, cool yogurt and tamarind, crunchy pomegranate and sev.

Fill out your order with the especially fine Batata Sev Puri ($8) and the Jaipur Kofta, spinach, chickpea, and pumpkin dumplings in curry sauce ($13). Just pass on the Indian wine; Kingfisher is best here.

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Max Falkowitz used to work here. These days, he’s a food and travel writer for The New York Times, Saveur, Food & Wine, New York magazine’s Grub Street, GQ, and elsewhere. He’s also the coauthor of The Dumpling Galaxy Cookbook with Helen You.

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